South African police have said there are witnesses who heard Oscar Pistorius,
the Paralympic sprinter, allegedly shoot his girlfriend at their home in
Pretoria.

Police have confirmed that a 26-year-old man will be charged with murder after a 30-year-old woman was found dead at a gated housing compound east of Pretoria, shot in the head and arm, and a 9mm pistol was recovered.

"There are witnesses and they have been interviewed this morning. We are talking about neighbours and people that heard things earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place," said Denise Beukes, a police brigadier, outside Mr Pistorius’ home in Pretoria.

Oscar Pistorius starts in the men's 400-metre semifinal during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (AP)

Mr Pistorius is likely to appear before a court tomorrow to be charged.

She added that there had been “previous incidents” of a “domestic nature” at Mr Pistorius’ home in a gated and guarded compound called Silver Woods, outside Pretoria.

The spokesman said no third party was involved in the death of Reena Steenkamp, a model and law graduate. The spokesman said: "the deceased was shot four times and died on the scene. It is believed that she was the girlfriend of the accused."

The incident occurred in the early hours of St Valentine’s Day and local reports suggested Mr Pistorius believed he was shooting an intruder.

Yesterday, Ms Steenkamp hinted that she was planning to surprise Mr Pistorius for Valentine’s Day. "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay", she tweeted.

Mr Pistorius's home is in the heart of a large estate surrounded by a ten foot-high stone wall topped by an electric wire fence.

Radio news station 702 cited police sources as saying that Mr Pistorius was “traumatised” by the incident but is cooperating with detectives.

A close family friend confirmed to South Africa’s City Press newspaper that it was Miss Steenkamp who died early this morning in Pistorius’s luxury Pretoria home, saying the family was “devastated”.

South African police vehicles from Boschkop Police Station enter the Siver Woods Country Estate in Pretoria (EPA)

Hundreds of messages of condolence streamed in on Twitter where Steenkamp had an active account.

She described herself as an “SA Model, Cover Girl, Tropika Island of Treasure Celeb Contestant, Law Graduate, Child of God”.

South Africa continues to be one of the most violent countries in the world and many people have personal firearms in their homes in case of robberies, which frequently involve terrifying violence. Last year alone, there were 16,766 reported cases of house robberies alone.

There have been several tragic cases where people have killed members of their own household who they mistook for intruders. Last November, a father was arrested for shooting dead his 15-year-old daughter in their garden as she returned home from a night out with friends.

Two recently tweeted photos of Reeva Steenkamp (@reevasteenkamp)

In 2004, Springbok rugby player Rudi Visagie shot dead his 19-year-old daughter after he mistakenly thought she was a robber trying to steal his car in the middle of the night.

William Booth, a criminal lawyer based in Cape Town, said that the law provided some self-defence protection.

"The law says that you are entitled to shoot somebody if that person is attacking you or another person," he said.

"You are also entitled to shoot somebody even if that person is not armed with a firearm but if you believe that intruder is going to cause serious harm or death to you or someone else in your house.

"In South Africa many many housebreakers and house robbers kill people because they get in the way and they don't want to be identified, or because they are high on drugs.

"These things can however lead to tragic circumstances because people are very fearful given the levels of violence and sometimes could act too soon."